Beef

Air Fryer Crispy Beef (Better than Takeout!)

Make delicious crispy beef in the comfort of your home using my easy Air Fryer Crispy Chili Beef recipe! Deliciously crisp beef strips smothered in a tangy sticky sauce

Serves 4
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 10 minutes
Total 20 minutes

Asian Recipes Chinese Recipes

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Air Fryer Crispy Beef (Better than Takeout!)

Make Chinese Crispy Beef in the comfort of your home using my quick and easy Air Fryer Crispy Chili Beef recipe! These deliciously crisp beef strips smothered in a tangy sticky sauce will become your new obsession…

Love this recipe? Check out my Air Fryer Orange Chicken!

close up on Chinese crispy chilli beef garnished with sesame seeds and spring onions

I adore Crispy Chili Beef and I always order it whenever we get Chinese takeaway. Sadly, I am frequently disappointed. More often than not, the beef is incredibly chewy and tough – maybe this dish just doesn’t travel well?

To satisfy my Crispy Beef cravings I set out to recreate the recipe at home, in my trusty Air Fryer of course! I was so thrilled with the results that we now have Crispy Shredded Chili Beef on the reg – no messy deep frying involved.

Serving of Air fryer Crispy Chilli beef in a blue bowl, side view

Here’s What You’ll Need

This recipe uses easy-to-find ingredients. I will also provide alternative options to make cooking easier. Just as with many Asian recipes you will need to have everything prepped and ready to go as it takes minutes to cook!

BEEF: sirloin or ribeye steaks are perfect for this recipe
MARINADE: Cornflour (a.k.a cornstarch), baking soda, soy sauce and sesame oil
COATING: Cornflour and rice flour for extra crispy results! If you don’t have rice flour you can use potato starch or plain flour
SAUCE: sesame oil, onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, sriracha, honey, cornflour, water
AND FINALLY: sesame seeds, chilies and spring onions to serve

Crispy Chinese Chilli Beef in a wok against a dark background

How to Make Air Fryer Crispy Beef

Place the cornstarch, baking soda, soy sauce and oil in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the beef strips, toss to coat and leave to marinate for 30 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.
Toss the marinated beef in more cornflour until well coated and a bit sticky. Add the rice flour and toss again. Separate the beef strips, laying them flat on a plate. Mist well with oil (sesame or vegetable oil).

collage showing beef strips in a marinade and beef strips coated in cornflour on a plate

Air Fry the Beef

Preheat the air fryer to the maximum heat setting for three minutes (my Ninja goes up to 240°C/ 465°F). Spread the strips in a single layer in the air fryer basket and air fry for about 7 minutes. Shake the basket once or twice so that they crisp up evenly.

close up on beef strips coated in cornflour in the basket of an air fryer

Make the Sauce

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the sliced onion and carrot strips and stir fry over high heat for about a minute.
Add the minced garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Pour in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, sriracha and honey and bring to a boil. Finally stir in the cornflour slurry.

Stir frying onion, carrot strips, garlic and ginger in a wok

Nearly There…

Final step! Add the crispy beef into the sauce, while it is simmering, and stir to coat evenly with the tangy sticky sauce. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, chili if using and finely sliced spring onions and serve!

Coating crisp beef strips in a tangy sauce in a wok

Recipe Tips

Make a meal out of this crispy beef by serving over a bowl of sticky rice. My son also loves this with noodles…
The sauce is more tangy-sweet than spicy so even kids will love it. Dial up the heat by adding a bit more Sriracha and red pepper flakes to the sauce and serve with sliced green or red jalapenos.
This is not a truly authentic Chinese crispy beef recipe, rather a more Westernized version. You can find this recipe as Crispy Shredded Beef, Crispy Chili Beef, Asian Crispy Beef and so on.
If you can find Chinese cooking wine (also known as Shaoxing or Shaohsing rice wine) buy a bottle! You can use it in so many Asian recipes, adding depth of flavor to many sauces. I have added it as an optional ingredient in the recipe card below. You can substitute it with dry cooking sherry.
Use low-sodium soy sauce to control the salt levels in this recipe.

Chinese shredded crispy beef in a wok, side view

YOU WILL ALSO LIKE…

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Recipe

Air Fryer Crispy Beef (Better than Takeout!)

Make Chinese Crispy Beef in the comfort of your home using my quick and easy Air Fryer Crispy Beef recipe! These deliciously crisp beef strips smothered in a tangy sticky sauce will become your new obsession…

Serves 4
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 10 minutes
Total 20 minutes

Ingredients

FOR THE BEEF AND MARINADE

1 lb (450g) sirloin steaks (, remove large pieces of fat)
1 tbsp cornstarch ((= cornflour))
¼ tsp baking soda ((= bicarbonate of soda))
½ tbsp soy sauce ((light or all-purpose))
2 tsp sesame or vegetable oil
2 tsp Chinese cooking wine ((optional))

FOR THE COATING

3 tbsp cornstarch ((= cornflour))
3 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp sesame or vegetable oil ((in a spray bottle))

FOR THE SAUCE

1 tbsp sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
1 onion (, sliced thinly)
1 carrot (, cut into thin strips)
3 garlic cloves (, minced)
1 tsp minced ginger
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
5 tbsp ketchup
2 tsp Sriracha (, or more to taste)
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp cornstarch ((= cornflour), diluted in 2 tbsp cold water)

TO SERVE

2 spring onions (, finely sliced)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 jalapeno (, sliced (optional))

Method

PREPARE THE BEEF

1
Place the steaks in the freezer for 30 minutes to make them easier to slice (this is helpful but not essential). Slice the beef into thin strips, using a sharp knife and cutting against the grain.
2
Place the cornflour, baking soda, soy sauce, oil and Chinese wine in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the beef strips, toss to coat and leave to marinate for 30 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.
3
Toss the marinated beef in more cornflour until well coated and a bit sticky. Add the rice flour and toss again.
4
Separate the beef strips, laying them flat on a plate. Mist well with oil (sesame or vegetable oil).

AIR FRY THE BEEF STRIPS

5
Preheat the air fryer to the maximum heat setting for three minutes (my Ninja goes up to 240°C/ 465°F). Spread the strips in a single layer in the air fryer basket and air fry for about 7 minutes or until crisp and browned. Shake the basket twice so that they crisp up evenly.

MAKE THE SAUCE

6
NOTE: the sauce cooks quickly – you will need to multitask and get it ready while the beef strips are in the air fryer. If that stresses you out you can prep the sauce first, take it off the heat, and have it ready before your air fry the shredded beef.
7
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the sliced onion and carrot strips and stir fry over high heat for about a minute.
8
Add the minced garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Pour in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, sriracha and honey and bring to a boil. Finally stir in the cornflour slurry.

NEARLY THERE…

9
Final step! Add the crispy beef into the sauce, while it is simmering, and stir to coat evenly with the tangy sticky sauce.
10
Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, chili if using, and finely sliced spring onions and serve!

Notes

Make a meal out of this crispy beef by serving over a bowl of sticky rice. My son also loves this with noodles… The sauce is more tangy-sweet than spicy so even kids will love it. Dial up the heat by adding a bit more Sriracha and dried chilli flakes to the sauce and serve with sliced green or red chillies. This is not a truly authentic Chinese crispy beef recipe, rather a more Westernized version. You can find this recipe as Crispy Shredded Beef, Crispy Chilli Beef, Asian Crispy Beef and so on. If you can find Chinese cooking wine (also known as Shaoxing or Shaohsing rice wine) buy a bottle! You can use it in so many Asian recipes, adding depth of flavour to many sauces. I have added it as an optional ingredient in the recipe card below. You can substitute it with dry cooking sherry. Use low sodium soy sauce to control the salt levels in this recipe.